Dredging machine



July 8, 1930. E. s. JOHNSON DREDGING MACHINE s Sheets-She et 1 Filed March 20, 1928 HL MLI v INVENTOR EDWIN S, JOHNSON ATTORNEY July 8, 1930.. E. s. JOHNSON 1,759,999

DREDGING' MACHINE Filed March 20, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR EDWIN S, JOHNSON Jiil s, 1930.

E. S. JOHNSON DREDGING MACHINE Filed March 20, 1928 3 SheetsSheet 3 INVENTOR ,k'owm s, JOHNSON A-TTORNEY Patented July 8, 1930 ETE STATES EDWIN SAMUEL JOHNSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Jan-Enema MACHINE Application filed March 20, 1928.

The invention relates in general to a dirt loosening or dredging machine 01": the hydraulic type and particularly relates to the cutting mechanism carried at the outer end 5 of the usual swinging ladder forming part of a dredging machine of conventional design. More specifically defined, the invention relates to an attachment designed to be substituted for part of the cutter head mechanism now found on such conventional forms of dredging machine for the purpose of adapting the machine to function where that particular character of material is to be dredged for the handling of which the disclosure herein is particularly designed.

The cutting mechanism of dredging machines noi Y in general use have different forms of blades and cutting tools operatively connected with a power plant to cause the tools 29 to loosen the dirt and discharge the same into the suction intake end of a dirt conduit. The present disclosure in so far as it relates to the ladder and part of the ladder head includes parts of such a driving tool form of dredging machine but otherwise the dis closure constitutes a development of the showing in my Patent Number 1,593,873, granted July 27, 1926, in that it features the use of a disk form of cutter which is actuated as an incident of the swinging of the ladder transversely across the path to be cut and which cutter does not utilize any directly connected driving mechanism for rotating the same. The patented disclosure above identified features a plurality of cutting disks and while this patented structure is particularly adaptable for certain character of work, such for'instance as in loose ground and mud, it is not economical in its operation on other characters of material to be loosened, such as in heavy clay or other material which is.

difiicult to cut.

The primary object of the present disclosure is to provide a simplified form of cutting mechanism particularly designed to operate efficiently on material to be dredged in situations where it is found to be more economical to utilize the entire available ladder swinging power of the swinging engine to concentrate its efforts in order to actuate Serial No. 263,203.

a single disk cutter rather than to distribute its energy among the plurality of cutters disclosed in the above identified patent.

Broadly, this object is attained by using only one cutter and by connecting it to the ladder swinging power agency in such way that the entire pull is exerted in overcoming the resistance presented to the cutter. Further theparts are organized so that the cutter will automatically face in the direction of travel of the swinging ladder as it reverses its direction oi": travel and in disposing the cutter so that at all times it will have its material discharging center in juxtaposition to and disposed to discharge its contents directly and without obstacles into the suction intake tube and thus tend to avoid resistance to the cutter action.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simplified mechanism controlled by the tension on the ladder swinging wires for automatically, positively, and promptly swinging the disk with change in direction of the swinging ladder and incidentally to lock the disk in its proper operative position, to

maintain it in such position so long as tension is maintained on the selected swing wire and to cause 1t to swing into its other operative position and to become locked therein when tension is applied to the other swing wire.

Another object of the invent-ion is to provide a simple form of control for easily adjusting the limits of movement of the disk cutter as it is swung from side to side to face in the direction of travel of the ladder and thus permit of a quick adjusting of the cutter to dispose the same in that position which will be most effective in acting on the particular material being cut.

Still. another object of the invention is to provide a mounting for the disk cutter which will be disposed in rear of and thus protected by the cutter so as to tend to minimize wear on the parts which carry the cutter as it is dragged through the material upon which it is operating.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a form of connection with the cutter mechanism which will tend to minimize destructive wear on the swing wires and asso'.

the invention also consists in certainnew and novel features of construction and combina tion of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the free end of a dredging machine ladder of conventional structure, showing an attachment secured thereto constituting a preferred embodiment of the invention and with parts brokenaway Figure2 is a view in side elevation of the showing in Figure 1; and

Figures 3 and 4 are vertical sectional views taken respectively on the lines 3-3 and 44 of Figure 1, looking in the directions inclicated by the arrows;

In the drawings, there is shown a free swinging end of a ladder 10 carrying a suction intake tube 11 as is usual in dredging apparatusl It is further understood that the ladder, tube and associated parts are swung by means of laterally extending, flexible connections, such as the swing wires 12 and 13 actuated by a swinging engine (not shown) and operatively connectedto swing the ladder end in a substantially horizontal plane, back-and forth as it is advanced along the channel being cut. The ladder is swung about a vertical axis at its supported end and as this axis isremote from the cutter herein featured it will be referred to as a remote axis. The ladder end is controlled in its ver tical movement and positioned by flexible connect-ions 14 with a hoisting engine (notshown).

In one form of dredging'ladder now in general use, there. is secured to the outer end of the ladder (as particularly shown in Fig. 4), the lower half 15 of a ladder head constituting part of a cutter driving shaft bearing, and which also has formed integrally therewith the suction intake nozzle 16 leading to the tube 11, as particularly shown in Figs. 2'and 3. In this form of ladder head, an

upper half of ashaftbearing (not shown) is positioned on top of the casting shown-at 15 and a cutter driving shaft extends through a circular bearing, the lower half of which is shown at 17 in Fig. 4.

In order to install. the attachment herein featured, the upper half of the bearing is removed, thus leaving a pair of long, flat top surfaces 18 available to receive. the attachmjent 19hereinfeatured and which is secured thereto by means of bolts 20. From this construction, it is apparent that the same ladder maybe utilized either to carry the form of cutter mechanism herein featured, or to carry a known form of shaft driven cutter mechanism.

The attachment includes a rugged casting forming a main body portion 21 somewhat I-shaped in cross section as shown in Fig. 4, hollow and ribbed to provide the-requisite structural strength while featuring lightness in weight. The body portion projects longitudinally beyond the end of the ladder as shown in Fig. 1 and beyond the end of the head casting 15, as shown in Fig. The extreme projecting end of the body portion terminates .in a vertically extending cutter shaft bearing 22. Positioned in the bearing and secured against vertical movement is a vertically disposed cutter shaft 23 arranged to swing the cutter hereinafter described about a vertical axis hereinafter referred to as an adjacent axis to distinguish from the remote axis at the pivoted end of the ladder.

The axis of the shaft 23 is in the longitudinal medial plane of the ladder in order that the ladder may tend to balance strains imposed thereon by the cutter. As the ladder is normally designed to swing about an axis also contained in said medial plane it follows that both the remote axis of swing of the ladder and the adjacent axis of rotation of the cutter shaft are in the same vertical plane. Forming a depending extension of the shaft is a curvedarm 24 enlarged at its lower end to form a flat, cylindrical form of cutter disk bearing 25. Rotatably mounted in the bearing 25 is a hollow disk cutter 26, one form of which is more particularly defined in the above identified patent.

The rear face of the disk cutter is convex and is somewhat in the form of a section of a sphere. The upper end of the arm 24 is enlarged, underlaps the bearing 22 and overlaps the upper edge of the cutter but the arm for its or part is a thin, narrow bar which conforms somewhat to the curvature of the rear face of the cutter and is positioned close to the same to minimize clearance between the cutter and its carrying arm.

The parts are so proportioned that as the ladder travels back and forth in its horizontal reoiprocatory movement, thebearing 25 and the lower portion of the associated arm 24 will be disposed in rear of and protected by the disk cutter, thus tending to minimize wear on these parts as they are dragged through the material.

' Positioned on top of the body portion and supported thereby is a toggle linkage or mechanism, one of the links constituting a lever arm 27 being secured to the upper end of the shaft 23 and constituting an actuating arm for rotating the disk cutter to and from the dotted and full line positions shown in the several figures and to cause the cutter to face in the direction of travel of the swinging ladder. The other link 28 of the toggle linkage has one end pivotally connected by means of pin 29 to the free end of the arm 27, and has its other end loosely secured to the body portion 21 by means of a pin and slot connection 30.

In order to limit the swing of the cutter shaft and thus define the limit of facing movement of the disk cutter, means are provided for varying the effective length of the slot 31 forming part of the pin and slot connection 30. For this purpose, the rear end of the slot as shown in Fig. 1 is enlarged with a form rectangular in plan and defined on opposite sides by longitudinally extending ledges 32. Slidably mounted within the enlarged part of the slot, and held in engagement with the ledges by the head of pin 35 is a stop block 33 secured in adjusted position considered lengthwise of the slot by set screws 34. It is thus apparent that varying the, longitudinal position of the block will limit the permissible inward or right to left movement of the link 28 in its engagement with the pin 35 of the pin and slot connection.

The portion of the link 28 intermediate its pivotal connections at opposite ends is widened as shown at 35 and to this widened portion is secured-a transversely extending U- hasp 36. The swing wires 12 and 13 at opposite sides of the ladder are trained respectively about sheaves 37 and 38. These sheaves are in each case pivotally connected to opposite sides of the hasp by means of piv oted links 39 which permit vertical movement of their associated sheaves. In order to minimize wear on the swing wires, it is re quired'that these sheaves be of large size and accordingly must be made quite heavy. hen tension is released on the swing wires, the heavy sheaves, of course, will have a tendency to swing about their pivotal connections 39 and fall vertically.- When in a depending position, tension on the swing wires will have the effect of'causing the wires to scrape against the sides of the sheave in order to lift the same from any depending position into position to permit the wire to engage the pulley wheel of the sheaves as shown at the right of Fig. 4. This places a severe wear upon the pull wires every time the direction of pull of the ladder is reversed. Accordingly, the present disclosure features the Widening of the body portion 21 to provide a substantially horizontal sheave supporting table 40 (see Fig.

{1), which will tend to limit the fall of the sheaves and thus maintain the pull wire in engagement with the sheave pulley irrespective of any dropped position of the sheaves as noted in the showing to the left of Figure 4.

For the purpose of minimizing distorting strains on the linkage, the body portion is provided on its upperface with a transversely extending rib 41 on which the central portion of the link 28 rests in both of its extreme positions and this construction tends to minimize wear on the pivotal connections of the linkage and particularly eliminates wear on the linkage pin 29.

It is a feature of this disclosure to advance the point of connection of the swing wires as far forwardly on the ladder as possible in order to increase the leverage efiect and thus cause the swing engine to act as directly as possible on the cutter. In the showing here.- in the pull is on the head in advance of the free end of the ladder and is above the upwardly projected outlines ofthe cutter in all operative'positions of the same. This means that strains between both swing wires and the cutter are transmitted over a short distance and through light but ruggedly braced parts designed to withstand the hard usage 7 to which such parts are subjected while in use. 7

In operation and referring first to Figures 2 and 3, it will be noted that the cutter disk is in an intermediate, inoperative position with the inclined axis of rotation of the disk in the longitudinal medial plane of the ladder and directly facing the intake nozzle 16 of the suction tube. Let it be assumed in referring to Figure 1 that tension is placed on the swing wire 12 to swing the ladder as a whole upwards on the sheet or to the left. The initial pulling eifect of the wire 12 will be to snap the linkage into the full line position shown in this figure thus causing the disk cutter to swing from the dotted line or any other position in which itmay happen to be, into the full line position. The succeeding pull of the wire 12 acts through the shifted linkage to swing theladder as a whole about its remote axis following conventional practices. During this movement, of course, tension is released on the other wire 13 thus permitting the associated sheave 38 to fall slightly on to the supporting table 40 but not so far as will remove the wire 13 from its engagement with the pulley wheel of the sheave.

At the end of the desired arc of movement of the ladder to the left, tension is released on the wire 12, a pull on wire 13 then acts successively to lift the sheave 38 to swing the toggle to dispose its pin 29 on the opposite side of a line connecting the axis of pins 23 and 35, thus swinging the disk cutter from the full line into the dotted line position shown in Figure 1 and finally, to swing the ladder with the cutter so disposed to the right. This sequence of movement is repeated, the ladder being swung from right to left across the channel with the disk cutter alternately shifted from right to left but always facing in the direction of movement of the ladder.

As the intake end of the suction tube and theaxis ,ofthe shaft 23 are disposed in the longitudinal medialplane of the ladder, it

follows that the center of therotating disk.

missing parts replaced to provide the shaft driven cutter mechanism or any other form of mechanism designed to fit on the support provided by the casting 15.

What is claimed is:

1. In a dredging machine, the combination 7 of a ladderadapted to be mounted for reciprocatory movement horizontally, a single relatively large size disk cutter mounted at the swinging end of the ladder for rotary movement about a vertical axis disposed in the longitudinal medial plane of the ladder,

and free to rotate about own axis as it is drawn through the materialupon which it operates, means for shifting the cutter about its vertical axis to cause the cutter to face in the direction of movementof the swinging end oftheladder, and means acting on the ladder and exerting its full pulling effect on said single cutter incidental to the swinging of the ladder in one of its reciprocatory directions.

2. In a dredging machine, the combination of a ladder adapted to be mounted for reciprocatory movement horizontally, a single disk cuttermounted for rotary movement at the free end of the ladder and operatively disposed to derive its power to rotate from its engagement withthe ground as the ladder is moved horizontally, a shaft for swinging the cutter to face in the-direction of travel 7 I of the free end of the ladder, the axis of said in the longitudinal medial plane of the ladder and means operatively disposed to cause the cutter to move about allthree axes as the cutter is moved across the materialupon which it operates. 7

4. In a dredging machine, the combination of a ladder. provided with a head. adapted to constitute'the lower half of a cutter driving ishaft bearing, a replaceable head including a body portion provided with means for demountably securing the'same to the half bearing on the ladder, a cutter journalled in the body portion, a toggle mechanism supported on the body portion for controlling the cuttor to cause it to face in the direction of travel of the laddder, a pair of sheaves pivotally connected to the toggle mechanism and adapted to have swing wires passed through the same to control the cutter and swing the ladder and a part of said body portion extending substantially horizontal and disposed to receive the sheaves and hold them from dropping into vertical position when released from tension by their associated swing wires.

5. In a dredging machine, the combination of a ladder adapted to be mounted forreciprocatory movement horizontally, a cutter head carried thereby, a rotary cutter shaft journalled in said head and mounted for a limited turning movement about an upright axis, a rotary cutter carried by the shaft, a suction tube having its intake end facing the cutter in all positions of the same and offset therefrom longitudinally of the ladder, means for swinging the ladder in its reciprocatory movement and means controlled by the change of direction of said ladder swing and connected to said shaft for shifting the position of the rotary cutter.

6. In a dredging machine, the c0mbination of a ladder adapted to be mounted for reciproca'tory horizontal swinging movement, adisk cutter at the free end of the ladder, means connected to the cutter for shiftingit to face in the direction of movement of the head as it moves back and forth with the reciprocatory ladder and a suction tube having its intake end disposed in advance of and facing the cutter in all positions of the same whereby the discharge from the cutter is delivered directly and substantially longitudinally of the ladder into the suction tube.

7. In a dredging machine, the combination of a rotary disk cutter mounted for free rotary movement about its axis and having a limited turning movement about an upright axis, and a suction tube having its intake end facing the cutter in all positions of the same, the axis of said tube and said upright axis being substantially in the same vertical plane.

8. In a dredging machine, the combination of a ladder adapted to be mounted for reciprocatory horizontal movement, and provided with a head, a supporting table carried by the head, a cutter carrying shaft journalled in the head, a link extending across the table pinned thereto and connected to the shaft to rotate the same, means including a pair of sheaves operatively disposed to rotate said shaft and to swing the ladder, said sheaves adapted to have swing wires passed through the same and when operatively disposed to pass horizontally therefrom, said sheaves pivotally connected at one end to the link and each adapted when released from the tension of its associated swing wire to rest on the table in an inclined position.

9. In a dredging machine, the combination of a ladder adapt-ed to be mounted for reciprocatory horizontal movement, a cutter mounted for rotary movement in said ladder, means for swinging the ladder in said movement and for rotating the cutter to face in the direction of movement of the ladder, said means including a link, a pin and slot connection connecting the link with the ladder, a sheave pivotally connected at one side to the link and a support for the opposite side of the sheave adapted to maintain the sheave in an inclined position.

10. A cutter mechanism provided with means for securing the same to the end of aladder of a dredging machine, said mechanism including a body portion, a cutter having a shaft journalled in said body portion, the top of said body portion providing a sheave supporting table, a linkage supported on the body portion and operatively connected to the cutter shaft to swing the cutter, and a pair of sheaves pivoted to the linkage and adapted when inactive to rest on said table, said sheaves adapted to have swing wires passed therethrough to elevate the same off the table, to swing the cutter and to swing the ladder on which the mechanism is mounted.

11. In a dredging machine, the combination of a swinging ladder, a cutter head se cured to the swinging end'of the ladder, a cutter carried by said head and positioned beyond the adjacent end of the ladder, said cutter being free for rotary movement about its axis and mounted for swinging its axis about a vertical axis, disposed substantially in the longitudinal medial plane of the ladder and means for swinging the ladder and for swinging the cutter about said vertical axis to cause the cutter to face in the direction of movement of the swinging ladder.

12. In a dredging machine, the combination of a swinging member adapted to be mounted for reciprocatory movement horif zontally and including the lower half of a ladder head provided with a suction intake nozzle and top bearing receiving surfaces, an attachment fashioned to fit on said receiving surfaces and provided with means for securing it rigidly to said lower half in place of the upper half usually fitted to said surfaces, cutting mechanism positioned beyond and facing the suction intake nozzle and including a vertically extending shaft mounted for rotary movement, and a disk cutter mounted for free rotary movement on the shaft and means carried by said attachment and acting on the shaft for shifting the cutter to face in the direction of movement of the swinging member.

13. In a dredging machine, the combination of a ladder adapted to be mounted for reciprocatory horizontal movement, a lower half of a ladder head secured to the ladder, and providing a top surface, an attachment fashioned to fit on said top surface and-adapted to be substituted for the usual upper half of the ladder head, meansfor' demountably securing the attachment to said lower half, cutting mechanism carried by said attachment and including a vertical shaft at the extreme end of the attachment and a disk cutter mounted on the shaft for free rotary movement, said shaft provided with an actuating arm, and pull means connectedto and acting directly on said arm for swinging the ladder and for shifting the cutter to face in the direction ofmovement of the ladder.

14. In a dredging machine, the combination of a ladder adapted to be mounted for reciprocatory horizontal movement, cutting mechanism carried by the ladder and including a vertical shaft and a disk cutter mounted on the shaft for free rotary movement, a toggle linkage with one of the two links thereof secured to the shaft to rotate the same,and a, pull means acting on theother link of the toggle link to swing the ladder, and to shift the cutter to face in the directionof movement of the ladder.

15. In a dredging machine, the combination of a support, cutting mechanism carried by the support and'including a vertical shaft and a disk cutter carried by the shaft and mounted for free rotary movement about the axis of the cutter, a toggle for shifting the cutter to and from two limiting positions, with one link having a pin and slot connection with the support and the other link forming an actuating arm secured to the shaft to turn the same, and pull means acting on the toggle to shift the cutter from one to the other of its limiting positions.

16. In a dredging machine, the combination of a ladder adapted to be mounted for reciprocat-ory horizontal swinging movement, cutting mechanism at the free end of the ladder and projecting beyond the same, said mechanism including a disk cutter mounted for free rotary movement about its axis 1 and having a limited movement about a vertical axis, means for shifting the cutter about said vertical axis to cause the cutter to face in the direction of travel of the ladder, and a swing wire for actuating said means and for swinging the ladder, said swing wire acting on the mechanism at an advanced point beyond the free end of the ladder and substantially above the disk thereby to provide a long leverage pull on the ladder.

17 In a dredging machine, the combination of a ladder, a head therefor comprising a body portion, a cutter shaft extending vertically and journalled in said body portion, a toggle linkage comprising an arm secured tothe shaft and a second link pivotally coni Q nected at one end to the shaft arm and hav- ;portion adjacent its other end, pull means attached to said second link to shift the shaft. and swing the ladder, said body portion provided with means for supporting the second link and thus acting to remove strains from'the connections at opposite ends.

a 18. An attachment for the head end of the ladder of a dredging machine comprising a mainbody portion I-shaped in cross section with the bottom flange thereof constitutinga support, meansfor demountably securing the support rigidly to the ladder said I-shaped portion having a part projecting therefrom and terminating in a vertically extending cutter shaft shearing having its axis in the longitudinal medial plane of the attachment,- a cutter shaft mounted in said i bearing for rotary movement and provided with a depending arm and a disk cutter rotatably mounted on said arm and spaced from said support. I

19. A replaceableattachment for the head end of a dredging machineladder, comprising a support provided at one end With means for demountably securing the same rigidly to the ladder to form an extension thereof, a disk cutter and a. shaft therefor carried by the attachment at the center of its end opposite the end provided With the securing means and means for swinging the attachment and With it the ladder and for shifting the cutter relative to' the attachment; 7

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this 12th day of March, A. D. 1928.

EDWIN SAMUEL JOHNSON.

con

mg a pin and slot connection Withthe body 

